FSC Code

FSC Code

FSC Code on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing

The prevention and detection of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism is essential to ensure the sound repute of the Mauritius International Financial Centre.

Section 18(1) of The Financial Intelligence and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2002 (FIAMLA) empowers the FSC to issue codes and guidelines for financial institutions to combat Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing activities. In addition, pursuant to Section 7(1)(a) of the Financial Services Act, the FSC has the power to "make FSC Rules, set standards and provide guidelines" so as to enable it to discharge its functions.

FSC Codes on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism were first issued in 2003 to insurance entities, investment businesses and management companies, i.e. the service providers operating in the key sectors under the purview of the FSC. The Codes were subsequently revised in 2005 to be in line with international best practices.

In March 2012, the FSC issued the new FSC Code on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing, which is a single comprehensive document applicable to all its licensees. A major step in this review was to harmonise the requirements of the previous Codes.

Under the FSC Code, the Board of the licensees must adopt internal Anti-Money Laundering/Combating Financial Terrorism (AML/CFT) policies and establish procedures as well as allocate responsibilities so as to ensure that the relevant licensees meet their legal obligation regarding AML/CFT.

AML/CFT policies and procedures include inter alia:

applying effective Customer Due Diligence measures including identifying and verifying the identity of the applicant for business when establishing a business relationship with an applicant for business and risk profiling procedures;

The Code also take into account the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) (40+9) Recommendations and other international standards including International Organisation of Securities Commission's Principles on Client Identification and Beneficial Ownership for the Securities Industry and International Association of Insurance Supervisors' Anti-Money Laundering Guidance Notes for Insurance Supervisors and Insurance Entities.